TOXICITY AND BIOCOMPATIBILITY OF STEEL COATING SAMPLES

To control the spread of pathogens in hospital environments, good hygienic routines based on cleaning and disinfection of surfaces contaminated with biological materials, are obligatory requirements. Ambulance transporting patients with infectious diseases may often be contaminated because of the special construction and the narrow space inside, ventilation system, and all the devices present. This problem is well discussed, but little is known about the car surfaces, toxicity and biocompatibility of ambulance materials. In our study we focused on toxicity and biocompatibility of seven steel coating samples (antibacterial coating, galvanic zinc coating, zinc flake - lamella coating, polyester - epoxide coating, without antibacterial additives: brown, green and blue-green) that can be used as internal material of ambulance. For toxicity determination, accredited test of direct contact and test of extracts were used. We found that five samples were not toxic. For two toxic samples (galvanic zinc coating, zinc flake - lamella coating) we provided additional tests (tests of extract) to determine the toxicity level. The non-toxic samples will be used for the biocompatibility assay.